What happened to getting a fair shake, and value in buying a well made product for a reasonable price? It seems like the majority of major corporations are no longer trying to entice people to buy and/or use theirs products by creating something of intrinsic value and of high quality. Instead, they would rather coerce people out of their money.
Microsoft needs more money
In an obvious attempt to score some additional upgrades to the waay over-due Vista OS, Microsoft announces that HALO 2 will be released, but only to be compatible with the Vista OS.
And if this isn’t bad enough, Microsoft has changed their EULA to say that if you upgrade your motherboard, you should buy a new copy of windows. Even though this only applies to OEM machines, it’s still a load of crap – since OEM licenses are not transferable to new machines.
The RIAA is killing the music industry
The RIAA is now saying that ripping MP3s to your iPod is not fair use. Another reason not to buy CDs ever again. The RIAA is doing more damage to the music industry than pirating ever could. Viva la itunes!
NETFLIX rents movies, just not that many
Both Blockbuster and NETFLIX throttle high volume users so essentially penalize them for watching a lot of movies, since those users effectively pay less for the service than say the folks who only watch a couple movies a week – rather than 20. This isn’t a bad policy on it’s own – but you have to atleast tell people that there is a limit. Didn’t you eggheads foresee this? DUH!
I’m sure I could go on and on, but really, what’s the point? It’s a simple fact that companies are becoming less and less interested in giving their customers what they pay for. I have nothing against companies making money. But how often have you bought a product only to have it break within a few days? When was the last time you paid for a service online, only to have it be unavailable for large amounts of time – or have it not work as expected? Most of the truly innovative products and services are coming from smaller companies and start-ups. Thankfully there are hold-outs in the world of the giants.
Companies like Lego, Trek, Nikon, Canon, Volvo, Apple, Bose, nVidia, Linhof, Mamiya, Schneider Optics, Ilford, Logitech, AMD, ASUS, and (of coarse) Zippo – all still provide an exceptional product for your money. This is a pretty short list, and I know there are more, but these are what come to mind right now.
Here’s to hoping the list doesn’t get any shorter…
Gaaa!!! So much for owning Halo 2 anytime soon. I don’t foresee another OS change in my near future. Microsoft blows for doing such a move.
And next thing you know the RIAA is going to say that singing in the shower isn’t fair use either. Damn those people are idiots! So is it illegal for me to play it in more than one part of my house at a time??
I got an email from the attorneys in this case. I get a free month of Netflix to make up for the “throttling” as they call it. But the lawyers get like $2 mil or so, who’s getting the short end of the stick there? Most likely the consumer when they raise the prices to cover the losses paid to those suited vultures. Not saying that what Netflix did is ok, it blows, now I know why I couldn’t always get my movies, I just hate lawyers.
Don’t forget Colt on that list…oh wait… Am I on the right topic here?? 😉
The same thing happened in that class action lawsuit against Teleport. The lawyers received almost a cool mil, the “main defendants” received almost 500k, and everyone else got $42! I had Teleport as my ISP (back in the day) for what? 6 years? Maybe more….
These big lawsuits never do anything for the people. They make the lawyers rich. Same goes with the RIAA. I bet they are pulling back some serious scratch. All the while, bands and artists get animosity from fans and the RIAA – because it’s become a pain in the arse to buy CDs and people are responding by not buying them. Gee. Whodathunkit?